Marston Group

[Genesis87]

Good evening all,

im really out of power to do anything but i need to ask for help.

 

let me explain what happened.

 

we used to live at our previous address for one year and we have moved to new address oct 2012 so we are living at this address for 8 months now.

 

last week when i was in work some guy from marston came to our house and demanded £1045 from HMCS Gloucester, she did not let him in but his foot was between the door so she could not close the door but then he asked if she is pregnant and she said yes so he removed it straight away.

 

she then rang me and i spoke to him. i tried to get some information what it is for but all he said failure to notify of change in circumstances but he did not have a clue who issued it except HMCS Gloucester issued the Marston to deal with it. .

 

the court happened on 7/1/2013 when we were at the new address and this was claimed and all papers send to old address.

 

now the thing is we dont know what it is for and we never received any letters at all either from court or marston as we believe everything was send to the old address.

 

so

1. court issued something at the old address even we were not living there and the court has happened without our knowledge.
   
2. no papers received at all
   
3. she is single mother with 2 kids
   
4. he did not enter the property
   
5. we dont know what it is for
   

 

now i have told him i will pay this friday just to get him out of sight.

he said he has warrant to enter the property and she can be jailed for not letting him in and he can call police and locksmiths.

 

anyone has ideas what to do ?

 

i have rang the marston office and they dont know who issued the " failure to notify of change in circumstances * or something like that.

 

she just had bristow and sutor for council paid of sum for £1900 and she cant afford to pay another £1045 for not even knowing what for.

 

thank you in advance

[ploddertom]

Sounds like a DVLA issue. Have you asked for the exact address on the Warrant? Suspect it will be your old address and would urge you to contact the originating Court and advise them of this + you have no knowledge, they should allow you to swear a Statutory Declaration which will wind everything back and get shot of the Bailiff.

 

As for your Council Tax issues have you sent off for a breakdown of Bailiff charges?

[Genesis87]

cant be dvla as she has no licence and no car, never driven one.

 

council tax was with different company and the sum of £700 something does not come right.he said the original sum is around £700 but total is £1045 now.

 

well bailiffs came to new address but court papers and the rest was send to old address we believe , if we would have an idea something is owned she would have paid it without problems but the court happened without her knowledge for and on old address.

 

i think its better to speak to court tomorrow and explain them the situation.

 

if they grant statutory dec. what will happen then ?

 

thank you for help

[wiseajak]

Also the bailiff is lying when he says he can get her arrested for not being let in and the rest he cant do squat if hes refused entry. The police wont do anything and he certainly cant get a locksmith.

[tomtubby]

This matter should be very simple indeed to resolve as it would seem that your wife should be permitted to submit a Statutory Declaration on the basis that she had not received a summons form the court as all correspondence would appear to have been sent to a previous address.

 

You need to contact the "issuing court" which the bailiff company have stated is HMCTS Gloucester. The best number to call them on in the morning is as following:

 

 

Magistrates Court: 01452 420174

 

Enforcement section:: 01452 833573

 

You will need to explain that you had moved home and that a summons etc appears to have been sent to your PREVIOUS address. The court should then allow your wife to swear a Statutory Declaration. The fine will then be cancelled.

 

Please post back in the morning after you have spoken with the court.

[Genesis87]

hi, thanks for your answers,

just spoke to a woman in the court and she said it was for date dec 2011 to july 2012 from tewkesbury borough council as she failed to tell them she moved to another area. i have told her they had enough time to check her up on address where she lives and send the letters there and she said they tried to trace her but no luck so they had to give it to the marstons to deal with it.

 

she also said he has right to enter the property with police as i asked if he has right to gain entry to the property.

 

tomorrow is last day and i dont know what to do if to move all the valuables out or ignore them and hope a miracle will happen.

[brassnecked]

If it is council tax and there is no levy, and no permission off the council, Marstons Cannot force entry with or without the police. Is the woman at the court getting confused between a magistrates fine and a council Liability Order?

[Genesis87]

well its not council basically she was receiving more money in housing than she was entitled to for the period of 7 months so its failure to make change in circumstances. basically overpayment for housing benefit.

[brassnecked]

well its not council basically she was receiving more money in housing than she was entitled to for the period of 7 months so its failure to make change in circumstances. basically overpayment for housing benefit.

 

Was she taken to court by the council and ordered to repay the money?

[Genesis87]

well yes the council taken her to court as the court hearing was 07/01/2013 but she didnt attend because all the papers were send to the old address.

[sgtbush]

failure to promptly notify the DWP in the prescribed manner of a change of circumstances

that will be the offence

 

and it says gloc HMCTS which is magistrates court, nothing to do with council tax.

 

it will be magistrates so a warrant of distress would of been issued, the bailiff has a lot more powers that if acting on CT

[Genesis87]

which powers u mean

[brassnecked]

That is the most likely sgtbush,

[sgtbush]

even tho their is a warrant issued, if she did not recieve the court papers because she moved, she needs to do a stat dec at court so the clock can be rolled back to where she can defend herself, this will put on hold any bailiff action until the court hears the case and decides what to do,

this must be done quickly, she has 21 days from when she knew about the case to file the stat dec

 

bailiff have more powers as they are enforcing a warrant, suggest you google something like what can a bailiff do when enforcing a warrant, he can force entry under the DVCV Act and Magistrates court act 1980, although it is rarely used it can happen.

[Genesis87]

should we just do the stat dec and bring it to them and see what they say ?

 

the problem is i told the baillif guy i will pay on friday so not much left and if i dont pay he will come again.

[sgtbush]

do the stat dec, you will get a copy of it signed and stamped by the court if it is accepted, the court will then inform the bailiff to hold action.

she needs to be able to defend herself, either guilty and sort the fine out with the court direct or not guilty and have a hearing

the warrant is live until the stat dec is accepted by the court, not before or not "its sent and we havnt heard anything" only when its signed, this is why its important to do it quickly

 

it would be prudent tho, to inform the bailiff company that a stat dec has been accepted by the court when you have it in your possession

 

just a little thing on the pregnancy thing, if she is in the last tri-mester of pregnancy or just had the baby she will be classed as vunrable, make sure you mention this in the stat dec, this, in its self, can have a case returned to court under vunrability rules in itself, never mind the not recieving court papers as they were sent to an old address

[ploddertom]

Go back & read Post 5

[Genesis87]

right, spoke to court again and its the court that issued the amount borough council has put her to court and because she didnt attend she was found guilty and they made a fine of £600 + other charges so total £745.

because she didnt reply to the court letters it went to marstons totalling £1045.

 

i told her she was not aware of any court happening as she was not living there she said do the statutory declaration by phoning and making an appoitment but how long that will take i dont know and baillifs will come tomorrow if i dont pay them.

 

should i make new tenancy agreement for my mum and put her in the house until they come and she can show them my wife dont live here anymore so bailifs will be put to sleep until the stat dec is done or should i hope he will knock and nothing else.

[brassnecked]

If the bailiffs come, after the stat dec has been done or even before, and accepted by the court hand a copy to the bailiff who should go away, they can have no more involvement, the case is taken from their hands and all bailiff fees are cancelled.. If the bailiff levies it doesn't matter it will be nullified whan the stat dec is done and the court accept it. If they take a car they will have to return it.

[Genesis87]

rang the court and they done the stat dec so bailiffs are put to sleep, she has a court hearing on Monday. question, what will happen now ? how is the process ? will they cancel the fine as well and the court will start from beginning ? can the borough council say she is paying for the original offence no more court ?

 

the reason why the court happened is borough council has send letters to previous address for interview why she didn't stop the housing benefit but she could not attend and she moved in between so they put it to court and court was sending letters as well to old address but because she didn't attend they found her guilty and court issued fine but i spoke to the council and they accepted the overpayment by instalment.

 

thank you everyone for help without you i would be nowhere.

 

take care all

[ploddertom]

Any news yet?

[Genesis87]

yes been to court today and they signed the stat dec. they said to wait for another summons. i was thinking to go to tewkesbury council and ask them to scrap the court as we made agreement to pay off the overpayment. u think it would help ?

[ploddertom]

Personally I would wait for the Court.